Rehan Ahmed has been called up to the England men’s Ashes squad for the second Test at Lord’s as cover for Moeen Ali.
Ahmed, 18, became the youngest man to play Test cricket for England when he made his debut against Pakistan in December. It was an occasion he marked with a five-wicket haul as England won by eight wickets to complete a historic three-nil series sweep.
The call for Ahmed comes after Moeen, himself an emergency back-up after regular spinner Jack Leach suffered a stress fracture of the back, struggled with a badly blistered finger during the Edgbaston Test and was unable to bowl a full allocation of overs on day five as England lost a dramatic match by two wickets.
Head coach Brendon McCullum had been bullish in his positivity that Moeen would be fit for Lord’s, with the week-long break between matches hoped to be enough time for the finger to heal. There is still a chance that Moeen may play next week, but England have decided back-up is necessary and have called up Ahmed as cover. He will join the squad in the coming days.
Immediately after the Edgbaston Test, McCullum said: “You have planning for everyone, right? So you've got to have some ideas and some theories up your sleeve and some options as well. But I'm pretty confident that over the next few days we can get on top of Mo’s finger and that’ll give us an opportunity to select him in the next game, which if he's available, he will be selected.”
A good sign for England is that the selection of Ahmed suggests they are comfortable with the fitness of Ben Stokes. Had Stokes, who bowled 14 overs at Edgbaston in a major step towards full fitness, not been comfortable with performing a full role as a fifth bowler, England would likely have turned to a more experienced spin option in Hampshire’s Liam Dawson.
Upon Ahmed’s surprise selection in December, Stokes said: "We obviously brought him into the squad to try and get him amongst us and experience what it's like being in this cricket team and we've been very impressed with what we've seen.
"He's got a lot of skill with both bat and ball, so it's great to be able to bring someone with the talent and the excitement that he has into the squad and see what he's got."
